Narcissus

Watercolor on Paper, 2025

I always thought the story of Narcissus was about punishment — a warning against looking too long, too lovingly at yourself. But when I began painting, the reflection shifted. What if seeing yourself isn’t vanity at all? What if it’s recognition?

This piece became an act of looking — not in the mirror, but inward. The water’s surface, soft and tremulous, became a threshold between who I thought I was and who I had always been. Each brushstroke felt like a quiet unveiling, an acknowledgment that worth is not something granted, but something remembered.

For so long I had measured myself by what others saw, or didn’t. Narcissus became the moment I stopped searching for approval in someone else’s gaze. I began to meet my own eyes and not flinch.

It’s a portrait of that stillness — the sacred instant when the reflection finally looks back, and you know you’ve come home to yourself.

— Bridget I. O’Brien, 2025